Greg Universe
Greg Universe is the father of Steven Quartz Universe who runs a local car wash named "It's A Wash", and was Rose's romantic partner. Personality Greg seems to be an overall kind person living a simpler lifestyle. He is known to be friendly and genuine, and, so far, has retained an honest attitude concerning his feelings as an individual. He appears to be easy-going and an optimist; his catchphrase is "If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs". He can be a bit immature at times, fooling around with watermelons in "Watermelon Steven", and is "kind of a mess" as described by Amethyst. He has been known to make poor choices, such as dropping out of college or faking an injury to spend time with Steven, but he always takes full responsibility for it afterward and will do whatever he can to make it up. While Greg is not necessarily knowledgeable about many of the situations he faces, he often tries to give the best advice he can that is based on his own experiences, which can have much value in their simplicity and his pragmatic view on things. Greg's advice had often proven invaluable to numerous people around him, like when he reminded Steven on when to bail out, which in turned saved his and Pearl's life in "Space Race". Much like his son, Greg cares deeply for his loved ones and friends, such as when he went out of his way to get closer to Rose despite the boundaries between their species. He is similarly characterized as paranoid of the worst happening to Steven, which stresses him to no end. Despite this, he tries his best to put on a brave face for his son with the knowledge that it made Steven happy and fulfilled, as seen in "Full Disclosure". Even though he does not know what difference he can make, Greg will usually help those he cares about when in need, seen as he joins Steven on his mission in "Ocean Gem" and offer Conniesupport in "We Need to Talk". He is also not the one to bear deep-seated grudges; even though the majority of the Crystal Gems in part resented him for what happened to Rose, he still wished they could be friends again, such as in "Maximum Capacity" and "The Message". In "Story for Steven", he said Marty was "dead to him" but still admitted that he was partly thankful for the help making the choice to stay with Rose. Greg is a sensitive person, according to Amethyst and a Crying Breakfast Friends! comparison made by Steven in "Reformed". Steven describes Pining Grapefruit as "wishing he was a better role model", something Greg shares with the Gems as none of them feel confident raising a child as unique as Steven. This leaves him with a minor lack in self-confidence as he has noted himself that he cannot offer very much. Nevertheless, he does not let it stop him from trying to prove he can be of use, as seen in "The Message", and does his best to be a responsible parent, taking parental initiative with Steven in "Space Race" to keep him safe. He seems to be a little uncomfortable in dealing with Gem powers, which he refers to as "magic stuff". He chooses to avoid magical situations unless Steven asks him for help. It is unknown if Greg has bad memories relating to Gem powers, and if that is the cause for his reluctance to get involved with them. While he does not show it in everyday life, Greg was deeply affected by Rose's passing. Having cherished his time with her, Greg was unwilling to let go of the past, which manifested in a hoarding problem where he was reluctant to throw anything away. In "Maximum Capacity", however, Greg finally let go of his past by getting rid of all his junk. Background Greg Universe was once a traveling musician who dropped out of college to become a one-man band known as "Mr. Universe", traveling around with his manager, Marty. When he played a concert in Beach City when he was only 22, the only person who came was Rose Quartz. Taking an interest in Rose, he soon met the Crystal Gems, before heading out on the road again. However, Greg could not forget Rose and as such chose to stay with her in Beach City to start a relationship with her. After a few months together, however, Pearl, who was jealous of their relationship, told Greg how he was "just a phase" to Rose, due to the differences between their species. After Greg attempted (in vain) to get closer to Rose by fusing with her, the romantic couple instead talked with each other about their feelings and grew closer than ever. Rose eventually gave up her physical form to give birth to Steven. In Steven's younger years, Greg took care of raising Steven until he could move in with the Crystal Gems and learn to use his powers. Greg has since settled down in Beach City, where he lives in his van and owns a local car wash, supporting Steven with his income. Appearance Greg appears as a plump man with a dark-beige beard surrounding his mouth. Greg has taupe hair styled in a mullet and dark-taupe eyes, with hair grown past his shoulders, and a large bald spot on the top of his head. He usually wears white tank tops, with long or short gray pants. He has a tan line on his shoulders and feet. (Possibly from a shirt and pants he wore before). Greg's skin color is a peachy red color, with the tan line spots being a light apricot color. He wears teal flip-flops, although he tends to go barefoot. In "Winter Forecast", he wears a purple dress shirt with pinkish plum spots over his tank, a blue baseball cap with a red underside, and brown footwear. When he was younger, he had a striking resemblance to Steven but had earring pieces, longer hair that flowed past his waist, a black sleeveless shirt with a star on it, and jeans with light blue sandals. Relationships Steven Universe Greg is Steven's father. The two have a good father-son relationship, but Greg seems to be trying to make things up to Steven. This may be because he does not consider himself as living up to his potential as a parent. He also appears to know that Steven harbors emotional conflict concerning his mother. In the episode "Laser Light Cannon", when Rose's old light cannon that Greg supplies to Steven and the Crystal Gems do not work at first, he says, "It's okay, Steven! We'll figure out something else. Something even better!". Even though Steven is his son and Greg was married to Rose, who also had the power of a typical Gem, he is still weirded out by the magic happenings that occur. However, even with his lack of understanding for these events, he always comes to his son's aid when he is needed (as seen when Steven turns into a cat monster in "Cat Fingers"). He is willing to comfort Steven to the best of his abilities, as seen in "Keystone Motel", when Steven was upset that Garnet split. Greg is not the current guardian of Steven. While Steven lives with the members of the Crystal Gems, Greg lives in his van, which remains near the car wash. Steven used to live with Greg up until the Beach House was built. However, even though they do not live together, Steven seems to visit Greg on a regular basis (as seen in the episode "Cat Fingers" when Steven helps out at the car wash). Greg is shown to care about Steven's safety, as he is sometimes shown to worry that Gem stuff is not safe for Steven. Crystal Gems The members of the Crystal Gems rarely interact with Greg, even though he is Steven's father and the lover of former Crystal Gem Rose Quartz. It appears that the main reason behind their lack of communication is because although the Gems do not have any negativity towards Greg himself, they still think he is not the most composed person. Amethyst best sums up the Crystal Gems' general feelings on Greg when she describes him as "kind of a mess". Due to this fact, they advise Greg to stay out of "magical matters", as they were much more capable than him. Greg does not seem to mind, as he, like most humans, seems apprehensive, if not terrified, of "magic Gem stuff". However, even with their belief of Greg's somewhat questionable reliability, Greg has come to their aid when he is needed (as seen in "Laser Light Cannon"), but it seems that this only occurs at Steven's request. Earlier on, both Greg and the Gems also seem uncomfortable around each other sometimes due to the circumstances surrounding Steven's birth, and consequently Rose's "death". In "The Message", it is revealed that Greg is deeply saddened and hurt by how the Gems seem to look down on him, assuming that he cannot offer any real help with "magical matters". He expresses these feelings through a song about how all he wants is their approval and that he has a very high opinion of his wife's closest friends. Recently, it seems that the Crystal Gems and Greg are warming up to each other, especially Greg and Amethyst, although Greg and Garnet were never on bad terms either. His most complicated or potentially contemptuous relationship is with Pearl, although the two have never been seen acting outright hostile toward one another. As of Mr. Greg, however, they seem to be on friendly terms after putting their former rivalry over Rose behind them. In "Steven's Birthday", it is revealed Greg first met the Gems when he was 22. Garnet Garnet is the Crystal Gem who treats Greg with the most respect. However, due to her enigmatic nature, she rarely shows it openly. She has, however, on several occasions openly voices her support towards him, often in opposition to Pearl. In "We Need to Talk", it is Garnet who encourages him not to give up on trying to learn how to perform a fusion dance to fuse with Rose. The episode strongly implies that she did so because she had seen, with her Future Vision, that, while he would never be able to fuse with her, the act of trying would force the two to have a "real talk". This confrontation between him and Rose forces the two to talk about their relationship on more serious terms, and in the end, they decide to try their best at making it work despite the difficulties of a human being involved with a Gem. In "The Message", Garnet is the one who convinces Pearl to give Greg a second chance at trying to decode the message, and she properly thanks him when he is successful, giving him their much-desired approval. In "Keystone Motel", Garnet accepts Greg's offer of going on a road trip. Greg is understanding of Garnet's split and lets Sapphire and Ruby have their space. He also is not alarmed when he sees Sapphire and asks where "the other one" is, meaning he had known that Garnet is a fusion or had already seen Ruby and Sapphire in the past. Amethyst Amethyst and Greg used to get along very well. Amethyst's immature (by Gem standards) attitude, as well as her love for human activities such as eating and slacking off, goes hand-in-hand with his personality. When the Crystal Gems first meet Greg, young Amethyst is the least reserved and most curious about him and acts like an excited animal around him. Their friendly relationship continues throughout the years, and they spend much time together doing things like watching marathons of their favorite TV sitcom, Li'l Butler. However, with Rose's passing came a change in their marriage; it is implied in "Maximum Capacity" that their relationship went sour because Amethyst starts to hold a grudge against him for "taking" Rose away from her, leading to an unspecified confrontation and their calling their friendship off. The episode reveals that it involves shapeshifting and that it causes Greg to be especially uncomfortable around shapeshifting in comparison to other "magical Gem stuff". The episode leads to yet another argument as they are trying to rekindle their relationship, but this time, it seems that the two, with Steven's help, reach an understanding, with Amethyst showing guilt for the things she had said and Greg reciprocating her sentiment kindly. Pearl Greg and Pearl start out as rivals for Rose's love, and while it is unclear if Greg saw it this way, Pearl clearly has this mindset. Pearl, who had always loved Rose, was very antagonistic towards Greg and openly berates him for his seemingly naive attempts to romance her. Under the assumption that he is just a "phase" and that Rose will lose interest in him once his novelty as a human wears off, Pearl continues undermining Greg's self-confidence. Perhaps seeing him as an actual threat to her relationship with Rose, she is determined to convince him that he will never be intimately close to a Gem because of his inability to fuse, and henceforth has no chance with Rose. In "We Need to Talk", not only does she become significantly more haughty about this, but she also convinces Rose to form Rainbow Quartz with her. While Rose believes it was solely to spruce up their music video, Pearl was making an attempt to drive her point home and demonstrate that she will always be Rose's closest confidante. However, Greg is mostly just annoyed by her patronizing attitude and is relatively undeterred by her sandbagging. To Pearl's great irritation, her claims about his inability to fuse are what motivates him to attempt it. As it would seem, this ends up with him and Rose having an intimate talk about their relationship, a conversation that brings the two of them closer than ever before. Having witnessed the conversation, Pearl openly expresses her insecurity that Greg has replaced her as Rose's "favorite" to the other Crystal Gems. In the episodes set in present time, Pearl still retains at least some of her assumed superiority as a Gem and occasionally resentful towards him, although she conveys it to Steven as Greg not being an optimal role model rather than their personal history. Despite their past conflict, Greg still values the approval of Pearl and the other Crystal Gems and trusts them to raise his son well. As the show progresses, Pearl begins to forgive and respect Greg more and more as he continues to prove himself as a surprisingly adamant father. After the events of "Ocean Gem", she is seen voluntarily fixing his van on her own, and in "Reformed", the two are seen spending time together by choice while tinkering with the van. The two even agree that they are mutually mystified by the appeal of Crying Breakfast Friends. This apparent forgiveness does not seem to have flushed out all of her resentment, however, as in "Chille Tid", she has a dream where she and Rose forget about Greg to go and explore the galaxy. This dream quickly warps into a nightmare where Greg is dressed as Rose and thanks her for "fixing his van", much to Pearl's horror. However, as of the events of "Mr. Greg", their relationship is much better, with the two being able to converse about Rose. Rose Quartz Rose Quartz was the romantic partner of Greg before she gave up her physical form to bring Steven into existence. Not much else is known about Rose's marriage with Greg, except for the fact that they met when she was the only attendee at one of Greg's concerts in Beach City, back when he was a one-man band. Greg seems to consider himself very lucky to have met Rose. Greg still does not know what it was that Rose saw in him. In the episode "We Need to Talk", we also see his relationship with Rose started off a bit rocky, with both Rose and Greg not understanding the mannerisms of each other's species. The two, however, decide that they can and will work out their relationship, despite them differing in many ways. Peridot Greg has been told about her from Steven in "The Return", he seems a little unnerved about what she could do, and only briefly met Peridot in "Log Date 7 15 2". When they first meet, Peridot and Greg share an awkward moment before she rudely pushes him off the barn roof without warning, believing he can fly. Luckily, Garnet catches him before he could get injured. Greg, while terrified, understands that Peridot does not understand Earth very well.